Fender Level Set Buffer review

Iron our your tone troubles

  • £87
  • €98
  • $99
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MusicRadar Verdict

A practical utility for ’boards. Iron out level and tone disparities while improving your signal path.

Pros

  • +

    Maintains tonal integrity. A useful tool for big pedalboards and players who gig with multiple guitars.

Cons

  • -

    Cheaper options are available.

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Besides the useful buffering for signal consistency, this pedal’s main aim is to provide something for the guitarist who uses multiple guitars on a gig and needs  to match the levels. 

The idea is that the default 12 o’clock position on a Level knob with up to +/-12dB of adjustment is for your main guitar and you can, say, roll it back a touch moving from the single coils of a Strat to a Les Paul with humbuckers and a higher output. 

There’s also a high-frequency knob that works on the sparkly top-end sheen, so you can subtly compensate for dark or overly spiky pickups. The pedal is always on, but the footswitch can be used to mute the signal, perhaps when tuning - a dedicated output keeps your tuner out of the audio signal path. 

There’s also a switch that applies input capacitance to load guitar pickups - it’s a subtle effect but it’s a worthwhile tonal variant that may suit your setup. 

Trevor Curwen

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.